Category Archives: Economy

An obsession with “balanced budgets”, promoted by successive Coalition governments, is having serious economic consequences.

The problem with the housing bubble is not a shortage of housing, the problem is an excess of money. The solution is to restrict the amounts banks can loan. The solution is a credit squeeze. But it would have to … Continue reading →

In the age of secular stagnation – although the age’s dawn has not yet dawned on the Australian government – one of the central economic questions is: what has caused productivity growth to decline? As far back as 1987, Robert … Continue reading →

Without water we humans die within days. Without oil our society, as currently organised, will follow a similar path. Given the obvious importance of liquid fuels to society, a realistic appraisal of future availability is essential. Unfortunately the Department of … Continue reading →

Although economic growth, inflation and nominal incomes have all been sluggish for the last several years, asset prices have increased substantially. One consequence of this much faster rate of increase in asset prices than incomes is that wealth, rather than … Continue reading →

For the last forty years or more, economic orthodoxy has assigned the principal responsibility for macroeconomic demand management in the advanced economies to monetary policy. In recent years, however, inflation targets have been under-shot and incomes have continued to stagnate, … Continue reading →

The headline economic news this week is that the IMF has revised down its forecast for the Australian economy. That should not have come as a surprise; it has been obvious for a few years that the Australian economy is … Continue reading →

The Government has failed to respond to Australia’s continuing economic downturn despite both increasing unemployment last measured at 720,000 and underemployment of 1.14 million.

Policymakers and journalists generally talk about “society”, “the economy” and “the environment” as if they are separate entities, implying a tradeoff of objectives. Such a classification leads to poor policy and promotes unnecessary division.

A regular collection of links to writings and broadcasts in other media

On one side of the courtroom: TPG, a consumer-oriented telco grown large on acquisitions and minimalist customer service, run by a reclusive billionaire. Next to them is Vodafone, a mobile carrier with a global brand, the perennial number three in … Continue reading →

Superannuation investors are keenly interested in income distribution patterns. They also monitor the ethics of companies in which they might invest. Recently they published a report of research into the Australian Stock Exchange’s top 100 Chief Executive Officers. The report … Continue reading →